FierceBiotechFierceBiotechResearchFierceBiotechITFierceVaccinesFiercePharmaFiercePharmaManufacturing   FierceHealthcare

Free Newsletter

About | View Sample | Privacy

Vytorin scrips still falling, Hassan hires help

Tools

Once again, prescriptions for the embattled Merck/Schering-Plough med Vytorin have dropped, this time by 5 percent during the month of June. Cholesterol drug sales fell overall, by 2 percent, but obviously Vytorin's loss outpaced that decline, leaving the med with only 6.8 percent of the market, compared with 9 percent back in January, when preliminary results from the controversial Enhance trial were released. As you know, that trial found that Vytorin--a combo of simvastatin and Zetia--was no better at preventing artery-clogging than simvastatin alone. So it's not a huge surprise that Schering's latest sales figures show Zetia scrips still falling, too, by 3.7 percent in the month of June.

Probably not a huge surprise, either, that CEO Fred Hassan is bringing in some help to manage the company's image through the spate of bad publicity. Christopher Bowe, a former Financial Times pharma reporter, will consult with Hassan's longtime "media masseuse" Ken Banta. We'll watch and see whether the media plays along.

- see Schering's SEC filing on Vytorin and Zetia
- check out the Pharmalot post on scrips
- read the story about Hassan's new spinmeister

Related Articles:
Drop in Vytorin scrips slows
Vytorin, Zetia scrips drop 11% in April
Hassan's advice for hard times
Schering CEO defends Vytorin decisions

More stories about Christopher Bowe   Ken Banta   Fred Hassan   Schering-Plough   Vytorin  

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

More information about formatting options

To combat spam, please enter the code in the image.